Studies show that students at smaller private colleges and universities are more likely to get fast feedback from professors than students at public universities. Two-thirds of freshmen at private non-doctoral colleges (meaning private colleges that don’t offer PhD programs and focus on undergrads) say that they get prompt feedback from their professors on their academic work. Only half of the freshmen at public research universities (meaning universities that train PhD students as well as undergrads) said they got prompt feedback. The difference is the same for seniors: 74 percent of seniors at private colleges received fast feedback from professors, versus 60 percent of seniors at public universities.

Source: National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), 2009, prepared for the Council of Independent Colleges.